In South Shields so i'm assuming most of the uk is the same we must have at least 10 'hand cars wash' places all seem to be run by Romanian/Polish looking people and charge between £3 to about £5 to hand wash your car with towel/chamois/blade thingy to dry. Are these better or worse than a bucket of soapy water and a manky sponge at home.

I'd be very cautious, there used to be (maybe still is) a Polish-run hand car wash near where I used to live, one of my colleagues took his Jag there on his way to a wedding and it seems like they guy dropped the chamois, picked it & carried on. When it dried off it looked like a skating rink

I suppose there'll be horror stories about whatever you use but I reckon if you care anything about your paintwork you'll put the effort in yourself. There's nothing like it for spotting all the new car park dings you've picked up since last time either